Abstract
Employing cross-generational perspective to speech acts, this study attemptsto investigate how Pashto-speaking Pakistani university students and teachers respond to compliments, and how the choices of both the generations are affected through pragmatic transfer by Pashtun culture in relation to age. Participants included 155 teachers and students. Following a mixed methods approach, the study included two primary sources of data: discourse completion tasks (DCTs) and semi-structured interviews. The collected compliment responses were categorized and analysed according to Herbert'sTaxonomy (1990). Quantitative data revealed that acceptance was the most favoured strategy used by both the generations. However, the two groups exhibited considerable differences in the types of politeness strategies used and the extent of pragmatic transfer they demonstrated in their Compliment Responses (CRs). In the use of politeness strategies, for instance, it was found that compliments made on spoken language ability and character were responded too differently by the teachers and the students. Pragmatic transfer, on the other hand, was evident in the students’ responses in two main scenarios but was less evident in the teachers’ responses. The students, however, faced challenges in judging the sincerity of the compliments given. The study has practical social implications of speech act and politeness strategies while emphasizing the need for greater intercultural awareness and competence among the speakers interacting in cross-cultural situations
Imtiaz Ahmad, , Khalid Mahmood. (2020) Speech Acts and Pragmatic Transfer in English Compliment Responses of Pashto Speakers, The ELF Annual Research Journal, Volume 22, Issue 1.
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